Cross My Heart, Hope To Die
by HoldTheTruthForever
Summary: X.A.N.A. has the world taken hostage by gaining control of nuclear missiles. The only way the gang can even stop him is by doing whatever he says. Slowly, their minds deteriorate as X.A.N.A.'s true vendettas are revealed.
1. Do What We Say

**Lyoko, Mountain Sector**

Just another routine mission. That's how it always starts. Jeremie's scanners have detected X.A.N.A. activating another tower in the Mountain Sector. There was no sign on what exactly the A.I. was planning, but it was clear the problem had to be resolved before anybody got hurt. So Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita virtualized onto Lyoko and made their trek across the sector to get to the tower.

But this routine mission turned into a slaughter. The tower was located in a massive crater that had a path spiraling down along the wall like a funnel. Suspicion filled the air when there was not a single monster in sight. As it on cue, hundreds upon hundreds of Tarantulas, Kankrelats, and Bloks surrounded the perimeter. The creatures opened fire like a firing squad into the dust bowl while the Kankrelats scurried down the spiral path.

After twenty minutes of fighting, the Lyoko Gang were all still alive, though many of them only had about twenty to forty life points left. Aelita tossed an energy orb into a Blok, destroying it.

Inside every monster's subconscious, a voice spoke. _Kill one, and another hundred replace it._

The creatures obeyed their master without haste. The overwhelmed warriors were still baffled at how X.A.N.A. is able to produce so many monsters in the same place, and why he was protecting this one tower with such ferocity.

"There's just no end to 'em!" Yumi commented as her fans ricochet off of two Kankrelats.

Ulrich deflected a laser with his sword. "Jeremie! Got a plan?"

Through his microphone, he said, "Just keep holding them off! Maybe I can override this program X.A.N.A. is using!"

And just like that, the monsters ceased fire. They stood their like mindless drones, leaving the warriors puzzled and quite uncomfortable.

_I will direct this problem myself. _A Tarantula jumped off the ledge and landed on all fours several feet away from the group. They kept their weapons at the ready. Jeremie's voice became static until the connection was cut off.

The spider-like monster began to twitch. It's arms bent in opposite directions, it's head cocked to the side, and it's entire body shook violently.

"What's it doing?" Aelita whispered.

The Tarantula stopped shaking. It stood on all fours ad looked straight at the team, staying as still as a statue. The creature's vocals became distorted, sounding like static.

"Hu-mans." It croaked. Yumi dropped her fans.

"Humans." It said i a much clearer, yet gravely tone.

"Looks like X.A.N.A.'s pets learned a new trick." Odd muttered as he prepared to fire a laser arrow, aiming right at the eye of X.A.N.A.

Aelita gently put her hand on his wrist, lowering it. "Wait a second, Odd. This...this isn't natural." She stepped forward, despite Ulrich putting a hand on her shoulder as a sign to step back.

"Who are you?" She asked inquisitively.

The Tarantula spoke in it's deep, gritty voice, "X86 Artificial NAT Antivirus. X.A.N.A."

Everyone but Odd were shocked to hear X.A.N.A. actually communicating with them. "Huh. So that's what it stands for."

There were so many questions the gang wanted to ask the being, but he had his own agenda. "We have been monitoring your world since the day we were reactivated. After gaining enough data within mere hours, we have finally reached a consensus-"

"We?" Aelita interrupted. "Who else is with you? Is there someone else besides you?"

After a pause, the Tarantula host scanned the individual members of the team. "No." He said flatly. "There is only X.A.N.A. We are one."

Yumi exchanged glances with Ulrich. "Then why do you refer to yourself as 'we.'" Yumi said in the most demanding voice possible.

There was another long period of silence. "No data available." X.A.N.A. replied, his voice was lifeless devoid of any feelings.

"What do you want?" Ulrich pointed his sword at the monster.

The A.I. scanned the sword. "Since our reactivation, we have slowly been spreading our influence across the global mainframe, keeping you in the dark with pathetic excuses for which you call, 'attacks.' And now we have full access to the world's nuclear weaponry."

Yumi dismissed this. "You're lying. Somebody would've detected it. A tower would be activated."

"The towers are a ruse. We never had any need for them. It was a distraction so you wouldn't realize our plan...until it was to late."

"And what plan is that?" Aelita demanded.

Another pause. "Nuclear annihilation."

"You wouldn't dare." Ulrich growled.

"Our consensus: The human race is to weak to live."

Odd waved his hand in dismissal. "Buddy, we could flip a switch and that would mean lights out for you. You're callin' that weak?"

X.A.N.A. explained, "The human race is weak. We planted a virus in the construct to test your mental strength. Killing us would kill the construct. You humans decided the fate of one lab accident was more valuable than the lives of billions. Machines have no attachments. We are therefore, superior."

"Construct?" Ulrich badgered. "What'd ya mean Aelita's a construct?"

"Irrelevant."

Aelita was not offended by the A.I.'s comment. She was rather intrigued. "And that's what makes humans and machines different. We have attachments that make us strong. Your kind just acts like a horde of mindless zombies."

X.A.N.A. computed. "Love. A wasteful emotion that only benefits the weak and the insecure. Creates weakness and sometimes, mutiny. Insufficient."

Out of anger, Yumi tossed her fan at the Tarantula, killing it.

The the group's left, X.A.N.A.'s staticy voice was heard coming from a Kankrelat. "We are everywhere." It slowly marched forward. "Anger. A dangerous emotion that clouds others thoughts and actions. Useful, yet unpredictable. Insufficient."

The small roach stopped in the place the Tarantula once stood. It's glowing red eye locked on Aelita.

Odd aimed at the monster host. "Let's cream this guy! He's probably to chicken to come out and face us."

"Odd!' Yumi hissed.

"What? If he's telling the truth, then the Earth's probably a microwave already!"

"Don't say that!" Aelita pleaded.

"Yeah, Odd." Ulrich smacked him upside the head.

The robot cut in on their argument. "There is away to stop the coming nuclear fire."

They all looked at the puny monster intently. "Do what we say."

Aelita stuttered. "Wh-What?"

"Do what we say. Use eachother like we use you. Do this, and we'll let you go. We'll let all of you go."

Their blood ran cold, just as their hearts stopped beating.


	2. Doomsday Countdown

Silence. The most blood curdling sound Aelita has ever heard. The only audible noise was the artificial wind carrying dust through the virtual atmosphere. The monsters and X.A.N.A., inside a Kankrelat's body, leered at the team for what felt like centuries. He could wait forever if he wanted to. He had all the time in the world. Jeremy overheard the whole conversation, but the hostile A.I. unfortunately jammed communications.

X.A.N.A. knew that the technology-apt student will eventually figure out the true activated tower, the one that allowed him to control the nukes, was in a replika Lyoko. The boy must be dealt with at some point.

Everybody exchanged terrified glances with each other. Aelita stepped forward and knelt in front of the dog-sized creature. "We'll do whatever you ask. Please, just don't hurt anyone."

The Kankrelat shifted it's optical lens. "We detect a pleading tone in your voice, Aelita. Has your brief time with the humans on Earth actually given you...feelings?" There was a very slight hit of curiosity in X.A.N.A.'s monotone voice.

She stood up, her hands at the sides of her clear skirt. "I'm not answering that. It turns out, I was always a human who was trapped here for ten years with you." She gave a cocky smile.

Though X.A.N.A. 'enjoyed' having an emotionless personality, he wanted to experience the sensation of laughter more than anything right now. He wanted to tell her everything about Franz Hopper, just to see her reaction. But holding his tongue had benefits in the past. "You're hubris and smug personality clouds you, Aelita. With time, we'll make you feel pain. We can promise you that as much as the impasse we have just...agreed upon."

Ulrich holstered his swords and stepped over to Aelita's side. "Hang on, _we _didn't agree on anything yet. We have some questions first."

The Kankrelat briefly glanced at Ulrich before continuing to stare at his sworn enemy. "Ask." He said grimly.

Taken aback by this simple statement, the boy recuperated quickly. "What have you done with William?" The newest member of the warriors immediately fell victim to X.A.N.A.'s influence, and his friends have tried to get him back ever since.

"The one you call 'William' became most...disagreeable. We dropped him in the digital sea. He was expendable to begin with."

"YOU WHAT?" Yumi shouted over Ulrich's shoulder, making him and Aelita jump.

X.A.N.A. repeated, "The one you call 'William' became-"

"That's not what I meant you idiot!" She was about to chuck her fans at the monster, but Ulrich gently put his hand on her wrist.

"Idiot? We merely answered the question you asked." X.A.N.A. didn't seem to understand human customs when speaking to eachother.

Yumi decided to drop it, knowing it was pointless arguing with a computer program. "What do you want us to do?" She asked glumly.

"We will devirtualize you back into the real world. The first step will commence once you have arrived." He started with Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich, turning into a wire frame of their avatars before vanishing. Aelita was left behind, surrounded by hundreds of monsters.

"We could devirtualize you now, Aelita. The scanners are in use." The program mocked.

"Please don't" The pink haired girl asked calmly.

"Don't take us for a fool, Aelita. Everything leads back to you. You're the most important thing in the world."

"I'm not a thing, I'm a human being!" She replied, raising her tone. Unfortunately for her, anger was lost on X.A.N.A.

Finally, she devirtualized. Her scanner doors slid open with her friends waiting for her. Aelita took a sharp intake of breath. She was no longer wearing her normal purple dress. She was still in her pink jumpsuit she dons on Lyoko. In fact, everybody was still in their Lyoko attire.

No one dared to speak a word, though their looks of disdain said more than enough. The elevator ride to the computer lab was quiet. The doors slid open, and Jeremy's face was a mixture of relief, fear, and confusion.

"What happened? Why are you guys dressed like that?" He asked wearily.

The Eye of X.A.N.A. faded in on every monitor in front of Jeremy. "We can answer that, human." His voiced cracked through the speakers.

"What did you do to my friends?" Jeremy demanded.

"We made them better."

"What? Are they still on Lyoko? Are they polymorphic specters?" He cleaned his glassed with his red sweater before putting them back on.

"Interesting name to give our extensions. Childish. We'll prove it. Odd, fire an arrow into Aelita's foot." The pair's back stiffened, like trees before a storm.

"I'm not doing that! You're crazy!" Odd folded his pawed arms.

"Then we will fire a nuclear missile." The four computer screens flashed images of warheads still nestled within their underground silos.

"Do it Odd!" Ulrich pressured the kid.

He defiantly continued to fold his arms. "No! Apocalypse or not, I'm not shooting my friend in the foot!"

In the background, X.A.N.A. counted down in a menacing doomsday voice. "6...5...4..."

"Odd! Just do it!" Yumi pleaded.

Aelita's green eyes looked into Odd's. "It's okay Odd, really." She said softly.

"3...2..."

Odd pointed his wrist at her right foot. "I'm sorry!" He quickly said just as he fired a laser arrow.

Everybody flinched at the sound of the searing laser-tipped blade tore through the middle of Aelita's foot. She cried out and collapsed to one knee. Smoke and blood began to pour out of her wound like magma from a volcano. Tears streamed down the girl's panicked face as she attempted to pull the hooked arrow out of her foot. Though it was especially hard to watch, Jeremy knew it had to be done.

Odd though, was still in shock. He knelt down in front of her and started apologizing. "Aelita, I'm so sorry! Really! I mean, uh, I was pressured ad X.A.N.A. was gonna blow up and please! I'm sorry!"

Thorough her choked cries, Aelita managed to say, "Odd...please...it's fine." She lied. The pain was unimaginable. She felt the hooks of the arrow ensnaring her metatarsals. The small pole in the back of the arrow stuck out of the ripped flesh and latex jumpsuit.

"Interesting. It seems that with this one, Earth is more important than 'friends.' We are...intrigued by your performance, Odd."

Yumi faced the computers, which returned to show staticy images of the Eye. "You're a real monster, you know that?"

An awkward silence filled the room, though Aelita's shuddered gasps were faintly heard. "No data available." He took another pause to process his new slave's physical state.

"Process completed."

Aelita stood up. Her foot was miraculously healed and the arrow was gone. But she didn't smile, not even a smirk. Everyone looked at the screens with awe.

"There are our programs you materialized with. We control your weapons and abilities at will. And yes. They are very real. So try to muster some small flicker of enjoyment while doing this. William certainly did."

The thought of her former friend brought tears to Yumi's eyes.

Jeremy took off his trademark headset, knowing it was pointless now. "Enough with this small talk X.A.N.A. What do you want? For us to blow up the super-computer? Destroy the academy?"

"Now you narcissistic fools. Go to the home of Franz Hopper. We will tell you more once you arrive." And just like that, the computer monitors flickered off. Jeremy pressed the power button repeatedly, but it seems like the A.I. was in full control now.

No one could fight the feeling of defeat. It was humiliating, confusing for some. How could their arch-enemy win? Just like that? Why did he want the Lyoko Warriors to have their powers? Why go to Franz's home? These were all questions that begged answers nobody wanted to hear.


	3. The Truth Will Set You Free

Jeremy looked over his shoulder. "Alright guys. I hate to say this, but it looks like we have no other options. For now, just do what he asks. I'll stay here and see if there's a way to stop him." His voice was somber, but there was some hope.

Jeremy's phone started to vibrate. He took it out of his pocket and took a deep swallow. The others knew who it was. The little screen had an image of X.A.N.A.'s symbol. "Text message..." Jeremy mumbled.

He opened it and read outloud, "That would not be a good idea, Jeremy Belpois. Go with the others. We'll be watching."

He slowly stuffed it back into his pocket. Standing up, the boy said, "Lead the way."

Everyone silently filed into the spacious elevator. It traveled up to the factory's first floor and everybody marched out of the factory. They made their way through the woods towards Franz Hopper's abandoned home, hoping nobody would see them. After several minutes of walking in silence, they came across the rusted steel gate of the dilapidated home. Jeremy's phone rang, even though he turned it off.

He answered with a nervous, "Hello?"

The oh so familiar nerve-racking voice said, "Give Aelita the mobile device, Jeremy Belpois." He handed the pink haired girl the phone, his hand shaking profusely.

Just out of pure habit, Aelita said, "Hello?"

"This is your 'home,' is it not." X.A.N.A. wasn't asking a question, it sounded like he was making a statement.

"Y-yes. This is where I grew up. Why did you want us to come here?" Her eyes dragged over the rotten wood and shattered windows of this once beautiful home.

"We didn't want you to come here, we needed you to come here. Aelita Schaeffer, you must understand."

"Understand what?" The others tuned in to her conversation.

"Enter the house, alone." He added an extra dash of detest to 'alone.'

"Guys? Uh, X.A.N.A. wants you to stay out here."

They all nodded in response. Aelita continued to hold the phone to her ear as she walked through the front door. The living room was dusty, worn out. Books and broken lamps were thrown across the floor and an overturned couch was nestled near the fire place.

"Alright, I'm here. Now what do you want?" She snapped.

"Do you know why your father home-schooled you, Aelita?"

"No...but-"

"Do you have any memory of actually leaving the confining gates of this prison, Aelita?"

"I'm sure my father wanted to protect me-" Her blood pressure picked up as X.A.N.A. threw more questions at her.

"Nobody, in the whole world, noticed you were gone, Aelita." The A.I.'s ghastly voice rose.

The girl had a feeling she knew what the program was assuming. He thinks her father cut her off from the world.

Aelita held the cell in front of her face and yelled, "Don't say anything about my father! He wanted to protect me! He-he just wouldn't do that..." Tears leaked from her eyes.

"There is much more, Aelita. Franz Hopper created you, as a guinea pig." Aelita dropped the phone, her jaw dropped, and she stared blankly into the foreboding darkness of the house. X.A.N.A. put the phone on speaker, his voice echoed through the empty room.

"Your whole life has been planned out, Aelita. Your waste of a father didn't want to release you from his laboratory. He wanted you to be a test subject for possibly the only significant experiment humanity has ever created: Lyoko. Why, we do not know. He used you as a key from fear that if you ever escape this virtual tomb, you wouldn't remember anything about your secluded past. We planted a virus inside you, so that you will never be able to deactivate us." Aelita dropped to her knees and started to cry.

X.A.N.A. continued. "Every time you arrived to Lyoko, File 3548-912 attempted to replant the memories."

Through her tears, the girl shakily said, "The Skyphozoa?"

"Yes, but your troublesome cohorts always intervened, saying we were stealing your memory. That is another fail-safe your father invented in case somebody found out about his creation. He thought a human would be kind enough to save a frail little girl in danger." X.A.N.A. sounded almost disgusted at the last sentence. "We needed to destroy your father. That's why we had to drop you into the digital sea, to bring him out of hiding. He wanted to seem like a hero, saving you. Coward is the best way to describe that wretch."

Aelita wiped her eyes and said in a clearer tone, "Why are you helping me?"

X.A.N.A. took a moment to process an answer this naive girl would understand. "We wanted you to realize that humanity isn't worth saving. They cannot be trusted. Machines are superior."

"So you could make me into another mindless puppet like William?"

"No. Think of it more as, you humans say, a friend to a friend." He said in a disturbing tone.

"We aren't friends." She said flatly. The girls stood up and picked up the phone. Looking at the Eye on the screen with disgust, she said, "My father may have been a horrible man, but not all humans are rats like him!" She defiantly said, "I'll never work with you. Just wait. We're gonna stop you, just like we always have!" Tears began to well up in her eyes once more as she ranted.

"Humans are an accident. You're lives are measured in years, then you wither away. When you were born, we were alive. When you're dead, we'll be alive. And when humanity burns to the ground and the machines rule the world with an iron fist, we'll be alive, thinking about how you continued to defy us while fighting alongside the kind that ruined your life."

"Shut up!" She croaked.

"We are eternal. Humanity's extinction is inevitable. The machines are the end of life itself."

"I said shut up!" Aelita felt so weak right now. She was screaming at a blood-thirsty computer software hellbent on destruction and she just found out her whole life was just one big joke.

The girl did the only thing she could do right now, she ran out the house sobbing. Her friends were startled at the normally strong-willed girl's breakdown. Ulrich greeted her with open arms, to which she accepted.

The samurai wrapped his arms around her as she cried into his sleeve. Her friends surrounded them, patting her on the back. "Aelita? What's wrong?" Yumi asked gently.

She sniffled and said, "It's a joke! My whole life is ONE BIG FUCKING JOKE!" She buried her face into Ulrich's arm, crying louder though they were muffled.

Her friends were taken aback by the girl's vulgar language, but they could understand what she meant, though they didn't fully understand.

Aelita managed to calm down, and she recalled the whole story. "My father planned for me to be on Lyoko! I was his guinea pig! He used me to conduct an experiment even X.A.N.A. doesn't know! X.A.N.A.'s the good guy! He's been trying to help me this whole time!" Just the concept alone made her dazed.

Jeremy didn't believe this yet. "He could be lying Aelita. Don't lose faith in your father just yet!"

"No he isn't!" She said assuringly. "The evidence is right there! We're just to blind to see it!" Tears continued to stream down her tattooed face.

The caller she talked to never hung up. "Now that you know the truth, we can give you the next step of our plan." Aelita felt calm enough to step out of Ulrich's embrace, though she was still shooken.

Yumi snatched the phone out of her hand. "Hello? X.A.N.A.? You're gonna be sorry you were ever created for what you did to my friend!"

"Do not threaten us with empty threats. And do not try to defend the accident. We gave her a new, better understanding of life."

The term 'accident' felt like a dagger through Aelita's heart.

"A better understanding?" Yumi said profoundly appalled. "You pretty much destroyed her faith in life itself!"

"That was our intention." He said coldly.

Yumi wanted to smash the phone to pieces, but she knew Jeremy wouldn't like that. X.A.N.A. continued his plan without delay. "Go to the Kadic Junior High School. Find Franz Hopper's secret laboratory within the boiler room. We will contact you once you arrive. Kill anyone that stands in your way. If one living soul escapes your gaze, we will unleash nuclear fire upon the world. Keep Aelita safe. Protect her with your meaningless lives, or else the whole world will burn." And the phone turned itself off.

A common silence floated in the air. Odd broke it, "Uhhh, Einstein? Do we really have to kill anybody? Cuz uhhh, I don't really like that."

Aelita faced the purple clad boy with rage swimming in her red and green eyes. "That doesn't matter Odd! If we don't then the whole world dies! Can you get that into your sawdust filled skull?" She poked him hard in the chest.

He swallowed hard, not saying a word. Ulrich put a hand on her shoulder, "Relax Princess."

She swatted his hand off. "Relax? The whole world is in peril, we have to commit a mass murder, and you guys _need _to die to protect me! How can I be relaxed? No matter what, allot of people are gonna die, and there's nothing I can do about it!" She was acting totally out of character to the point where Ulrich thought she was controlled by X.A.N.A.

But one look into her emerald green eyes and you could tell she was speaking from the heart. She gave a heavy-hearted sigh. "I'm sorry everyone. I don't want anybody to die, but there really is no way out of this."

The kids' lives were ruined. There is no way they could do a return to the past after this. So many would be dead, people would get suspicious. But now, it looks like that old saying was true:

Always compromise, even in the face of Armageddon.

**Things are heating up! Although I got no flame for the way I'm writing X.A.N.A., (saying 'we' and 'us') and ending every almost every sentence with 'Aelita,' is just part of how I imagined he would talk. I just wanted to clear that up.**


	4. Kadic Academy Massacre

Kadic Academy, the school where it all began, and possibly end. The five thirteen year old students stood under the arch, the front gate. Campus was deserted, possibly because it was class time. Jeremy's phone buzzed once more.

It was another text message from their master: Go to the sewer entrance, Jeremy Belpois. Minions, the data is in Franz Hopper's secret laboratory in the boiler room. Protect Aelita at all costs. The rest are expendable.

Everybody's hearts raced at the speed of light. They all felt butterflies in their stomachs; butterflies that wanted to get out.

Jeremy slowly turned and said with his voice shaking, "I'll...I'll meet you guys at the manhole. Please, all of you, stay safe." We nodded slowly. The boy turned and ran down the path until he was obscured by a cluster of trees. Odd looked like he was about to throw up. His face was pale, his breathing rapidly paced. Ulrich looked determined to mask his anxiety, but failed miserably.

They team marched into the fray, side by side, ready to lose their humanity. And of course, the first person they had to run into was Sissi. She looked like she was in no rush to get to class, despite being at least twenty minutes late. She gave the awkwardly dressed kids a passing glance before doing a double take. She briskly approached them with a look of disgust at their attire.

She stood in their path and asked in her pitched voice, "I knew you guys were dorks, but I didn't know you'd actually go to a comic convention!"

Aelita stared straight ahead with her poker face. "Get out of our way Sissi." She said in a stern tone.

She didn't seem threatened by the acclaimed computer nerd. "And what about you Miss Einstein? I mean, I've seen some pretty dorky kids in my time, but you really take the cake! I mean, your outfit just _screams _fashion disaster!"

The elfin girl did her best to mask her emotions. "Listen to me you over-zealous numbskull! Get out of our way or prepare to get blown off the face of this doomed planet!"

She whipped her silky black hair. "Is that some sort of cheesy line from your character?"

Aelita held up her fist glowing a vibrant pink. "_One. Last._ Chance."

Sissi shielded her eyes. "What're you tryin' to do? Blind me? Wait 'till my father hears about this!"

Aelita flicked her wrist and an energy field shot out. It hit Sissi in the stomach. She became petrified like a statue as a pink electric current swept over her body. In mere seconds, the girl exploded in a messy chili-like explosion. Aelita's face was sprinkled with the refreshing scarlet goo. _I've been wanting to do that for a while. _She thought darkly. Nobody was around to see this shocking display.

The others though, weren't so satisfied. In fact, they were horrified. "Aelita..." Yumi breathed. "You killed her..."

Aelita turned, "What's one more life worth to save many?"

Ulrich unsheathed the two swords from his back, waiting for a fight. "What's happened to you, Princess? You used to be so compassionate, now you're just a sociopath!"

The strawberry haired girl cocked her head to the side, hinting at her looming insanity. "Sociopath? You're calling _me _a sociopath? I just grew a backbone! You heard what X.A.N.A. said and there's nothing we can do about it! So suck it up or just get back to sulking like you always do!"

"Hey, back off!" Yumi stood between the two. "We may not have a choice but that's not a green light to start acting like a jerk to everybody!"

Aelita took a deep breath. "Fine. Let's go." _Stupid Ulrich. He doesn't know what it's like to have your whole life revealed to be a big fat lie! I don't like fighting with my friends, but why can't they understand how important this mission is? I'm not enjoying a single moment of this, aside from blowing that bitch, Sissi, to smithereens, but I'm not complaining about it every second. Besides...these people wouldn't lift a finger to help eachother, so why pity the selfish? _

They walked down the stone path, towards the main building. Yumi held the double doors open, letting the others go in. And who else was their next victim but Jim Morales, their P.E. teacher. _  
_

"Della Robbia, Stern, Ishiyama, Stones! What are you four doing out of class? And why're you dressed like that? Halloween ain't for another couple o' months!" He stood right before them, blocking their progress, like Sissi.

Nobody said a word. Ulrich still clutched his glowing blue swords. He looked down at them and mumbled, "I'm sorry, Jim."

"Wha-" Ulrich thrust two swords into the gym teacher's chest. His dark colored blood barely stood out against his lighter red jacket. The man yelled in agony before collapsing. Ulrich ripped the swords out, leaving behind fleshy wounds. The blades burning energy evaporated the blood almost instantly, making a sizzling sound.

The boy looked stunned he just did that. He continued to stare at the captivating energy swords, as if they had some deeper meaning. Unfortunately for the kids, students heard the scream and poked their heads out of their classes. Everybody screamed like banshees when they saw Jim's body at the group's feet. A stampede of children poured out of their homerooms, screaming and making a break for the exits.

There were phrases spoken such as, 'I always knew those guys were freaks!'

"No..." Yumi muttered at what they had to do. Aelita felt her heart drop like a stone.

Fighting back tears, the cybernetic geisha reluctantly tossed her fans into the crowd, cleanly slicing dozens of torsos, splattering blood and guts on the tiled floor in a single pass. Odd, looking paler than usual, was crouched between his two comrades picking off students from a distance. Ulrich tossed a sword like a boomerang, cutting off dozens of childrens' legs, making them thrash on the ground and eventually succumb to cardiac arrest.

"Nice throw Ulrich! What happened to making this quick and painless!" Yumi said frantically as she tossed another fan.

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't have a throwing weapon!" He looked like a scared rabbit, trying to pull himself together.

Aelita was surprisingly the most disturbed at this bloodshed. In fact, she never watched any horror movies. She said they were mindless and stupid, but deep down they scared and terrified her. Not a single soul exited the building. The hallway was soon painted red. In the end, Aelita killed only one student, Sissi.

Odd cautiously approached, careful to not enrage her again. "Hey...Princess. Why'd you freeze up?"

The girl stared at the gore and bodies piled down the hall. "I...There's so much blood...some of them are so young..." She recognized one of the corpses as Milly, bringing back normally sweet memories as horrible nightmares.

"Let's find the boiler room..." The Japanese girl said softly. She tugged at Aelita's clear plastic sleeve, who finally broke her prolonged stare.

The hallways were silent. Odd knew where the boiler room is due to a previous prank involving the school losing it's heat during the winter for a day. Once inside the musty and pungent underground room, there was not a single secret passage in sight.

The feline warrior tripped over a metal bar protruding from the cement ground. Upon further examination, he discovered it was a handle. He pulled it, knowing it was the doorway to Franz Hopper's secret lab. Everybody lent a hand with trying to pry the door open. It wouldn't budge at first, as if nobody opened it for years. The hatch flung open suddenly, knocking everybody off their feet. They all got up, brushed the dirt off their pants, and hopped down.

This wasn't really much of a secret lab. It was just a cramped storage closet that forced everyone to crouch down. The only object in the room was a laptop. It had cobwebs growing along the edges, making everyone guess that it probably doesn't work anymore.

"Is this what X.A.N.A. is after? A last gen laptop?" Odd asked is disbelief.

The samurai swallowed hard. "He made us kill all these people for a laptop?"

The cat-like hero picked up the laptop. "I guess we meet Jeremy at the factory." He shrugged.

The others agreed. They walked out of the boiler room, thorough the series of halls, and back out the corridor full of butchered classmates. The stench of blood filled everybody's nostrils, making them want to puke.

They marched out the front door, into the deafening silence of outside. It was almost...too quiet, the air tensed. Odd saw something suspicious. As everybody scouted the area for anything suspicious, he noticed a strange red dot traveling up Aelita's arm and finally freeze when it was right over her heart.

Oblivious, to her impending fate, Odd quickly took action.

"Aelita! Look out!" The girl shot her head into the air, to slow to react to the boy's warning. His super cat-like reflexes leaped in the path of the bullet the moment a loud bang was heard. The inch long bullet tore through his skin, broke through his bones, and finally passed through the boy's heart.

"Odd!" Aelita cried.

Yumi tossed her fans through the air in the direction of the shooter, though he was out of sight. When the weapons ricochet back through the trees, they were coated with blood. Blood seeped through Odd's armor, quickly adding to the growing puddle of crimson liquid. She sat beside him, putting two hands over the wound and exerting pressure.

Aelita rested his head on her lap, failing to fight back salty tears brimming her long eyelashes. "Odd you...you selfish lame-o! Why did you do that?" He took a deep raspy breath without responding. "Answer me you self-righteous glory hog! Why did you take a bullet for me?" Tears slid down her tattooed face.

"Cuz that's...tha's wha frens...are for..." His struggle to breath was labored as he coughed up more blood that dribbled down his chin.

She cupped her hands over her mouth and whispered, "Even after that fight we had?"

The boy gave a single nod.

Ulrich knelt down beside him, trying to keep his emotions leveled. Though that was difficult to achieve with his best friend dying right before his eyes. "You're...you're gonna be okay Odd..." He took a deep breath. "How's it feel?"

The blonde gave a faint smile. "Religious..."

Yumi lifted her bloody hands from his wound, knowing death was inevitable. Her even cut hair was just long enough so that nobody but her dying friend would see her crying.

The samurai was confused. "What's that supposed to mean?" He gave a small chuckle.

Odd pointed at his bullet wound. "Holey..." He laughed, coughing up a little more blood.

Yumi was flabbergasted. "How could you joke at a time like this?" They dying boy continued to give heaving laughs. She playfully punched him in the arm. "Jackass..." She muttered with a smile.

Odd looked straight up at the sky, he was starting to enter cardiac arrest. His last words were, "Tell...my sisers...I love 'em...and...and..." He died before he was able to finish. One last gasping, heart-wrenching, sigh escaped his lips as his eyelids drew closed.

Ulrich furiously wiped his eyes. "Damn you X.A.N.A." He muttered, hoping the all-seeing program didn't here that. Aelita gently put his head down from her lab and Yumi put his pawed hands over his heart.

From an intercom over the building's entrance, a monotone voice said, "Leave the dead where they fall."

The gang had no choice but obey. They had to leave their friend's corpse behind with all the others in this mass grave they once called school. To Aelita, it was the worse pain she experienced in the past six hours.


	5. Answers

The gang ran as fast as possible, still emotionally scarred after Odd's sudden death. They ran through campus and through the woods to get to the sewer cover, where Jeremy met them.

Gasping for breath, Aelita gave him the laptop. "This is it?" He said doubtfully. Then he noticed Aelita's flushed face and her reddened eyes.

"What's wrong?"

The girl took a deep breath. "Odd...Odd didn't make it."

Jeremy put his free hand over his heart, looking at the ground wide-eyed. His voice shook, "No...oh, god no..."

She continued, "He sacrificed himself to save me, though he tried warning me first...I was just too slow."

One thing did puzzle the blonde. "Wait, how exactly was he killed?"

Yumi stepped forward, "There was a sniper. Don't worry, I got 'em."

There was still one thing Jeremy didn't understand, something very critical. "Why was there a sniper in Kadic Academy?"

Everybody exchanged glances of realization, then fear. As if on cue, Jeremy's cell rang. He answered it with a panicked, "What happened X.A.N.A.?"

The A.I.'s motor-esque voice said, "Congratulations on obtaining the data, Lyoko Warriors."

"Why was there an assassin?" Jeremy almost yelled.

"Did you not notice any teachers? The moment they witnessed the slaughter, authorities were dispatched. It's rather fascinating at how fast humans work when they want to. There were several snipers positioned around the building. All of you would've been dead within seconds, we had to intervene."

Ulrich rubbed his aching head. "Then why did one shoot at us?"

"For almost compromising the mission, we relinquished a platform. Whoever he killed was beyond our control." X.A.N.A.'s voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

Jeremy eyed Franz Hopper's laptop suspiciously. "So, 'X.A.N.A.,' what's in the laptop?"

An extended period of silence. "Irrelevant."

"Why? If it doesn't matter, then why can't we take a look?" He insisted.

"Opening the laptop would be a very costly mistake, Jeremy Belpois. Go to the factory, and we'll contact you from there." X.A.N.A. sounded indifferent, mainly because of his emotionless voice. But still, there was an air of mystery to his cover up. There was something on this computer he didn't want anybody to see, and Jeremy knew it.

Without haste the kids traveled through the sewer network towards the factory. They ran over the bridge, swung down the rope, into the elevator like always. But this time, there was an uncomfortable sense of dread and guilt. Jeremy couldn't pry his eyes away from the laptop.

When the doors slid open, all four screens of the computer had images of X.A.N.A.'s logo. "Go to the scanners, Lyoko warriors. Aelita stays here. Plug the laptop into the supercomputer, Jeremy Belpois."

They traveled further down into the bowels of the factory Ulrich and Yumi got off at the next floor while Jeremy and Aelita stayed inside the lift. The blonde couldn't help himself anymore. He opened the laptop and turned it on, not questioning how it was still working.

"What're you doing?" Aelita asked urgently.

"Something's not adding up," He and the elfin girl walked towards the supercomputer. Without looking, he opened up a control panel, tugged out a cable and plugged it into a slot on the side. "Why would X.A.N.A. want this old piece of hardware? He's up to something, I know it."

"Jeremy please!" She begged. "I don't want you angering X.A.N.A.! It's probably nothing and you're just making a big mistake!"

Dozens of documents filled the screen. The boy started filing through them, quickly skimming the lengthy passages. "I'm sorry Aelita. You're just gonna have to trust my instincts." He said not looking up.

"Jeremy," A luminescent pink orb formed in Aelita's palm. "walk away." Her voice shook.

He finally shot his head up. A look of shock masked his face, but it wasn't for his traitorous friend. "It's all a lie." He muttered faintly.

"What?" She put her hand down, dispatching the energy field.

"Kill him, Aelita Schaeffer." X.A.N.A. echoed throughout the spacious room. She ignored him.

The boy explained as he looked through the files. "All of these are documents for programs, made by Franz Hopper!"

"Made for what?" She asked suspiciously.

"Earlier ones were made for upgrading the 'X86 Artificial NAT Antivirus' program, like giving it more range, a more independent system..."

The girl clenched her fists at the thought of her father. Jeremy continued, "But ol' Franz must've realized giving the hostile A.I. construct an artificial intelligence was a bad idea." He said sarcastically. "Some files are incomplete, but it's clear that these are programs made to destroy X.A.N.A."

He finally grasped X.A.N.A.'s plan. "He wants me to upload this so he could have you guys access the upgrades through Sector Five while destroying the viruses, our only chance at destroying him! Aelita, this is it! This is the answer we have been looking for! To stop X.A.N.A."

She didn't care about that anymore. There was only one thing she wanted to know. "Does it say anything about me?" She set her jaw.

"Ugh...I don't think you want to-"

"Let me see it." She snapped. Jeremy quickly handed her the laptop. She felt bad for yelling at her friend, but this was more important than anything now. _  
_

Aelita went into a file labeled 'Personal Files.' She clicked it open and started flipping through dozens of images, her expression becoming more and more horrified. Nearly ever image was her as a little girl, hooked up to strange looking machines. She appeared to be four or five, to young to remember. There were stats on her blood over the years, results of psychology tests, but the last image was the worst of all.

It was team of doctors, whom she didn't recognize, inserting a chip into her the back of her head. The chip had the eye of X.A.N.A. on the front. She felt the back of her head, searching for a scar. Her breathing became labored as she resisted bursting into tears, feeling the puffy tissue lining underneath her fluffy pink hair.

There was a video link for the image. She clicked on it, not wanting to watch it but unable to resist, Jeremy standing beside her.

A window opened up, starting a video journal of Franz Hopper. His silvery hair was ruffled, as well as his unshaven beard. His glasses looked smudged, like they haven't been cleansed in a long time. In fact, this whole image of the brilliant scientist made it seem like he hasn't stopped working in days.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke in a tired voice. "October fourteenth, nineteen ninety-four. Franz Schaeffer journal entry fifty-seven. Project: Aelita is running smoothly. I still remember when this all started twelve years ago. We needed a test subject to conduct the human-platform connection, Aelita and my virus from Carthage being the prototypes. So my lab partner, Anthea, volunteered to be a surrogate for the subject. It was purely for science, we had no further relations beyond our partnership." He gave a pleasant chuckle.

"The boys in the lab dubbed my virus 'X.A.N.A.' Quirky little name, but I'll take it. Now, I decided to use Lyoko, X.A.N.A.'s hub, as an output for the connection and Aelita as the receiver. We inserted the chip into her cerebellum and placed her into the scanner, here in the labs. I made another from scratch out of memory from the three in the factory. It came out rather well." He said in a -matter-of-fact tone. "The chip and X.A.N.A. melded into one. We allowed the A.I. a timed access into the world wide web, so it could access any electronic device within a four mile radius. This advanced technology was infused with X.A.N.A.'s programing, amplifying it's power so it could access anybody's thoughts within range. This could've helped the future for the better. It would've monitored citizens, saved lives, no more need for phones! Or maybe even talking at all!" Jeremy's eyes widened at the explanation on how X.A.N.A. is able to control people's minds.

He got steadily more enthusiastic, then grew colder. "Keep in mind...that I said could've. X.A.N.A.'s out of control now, gaining a kind of 'awareness.'. It took over Leslie's mind and Anthea's too. On Lyoko, Aelita gained access to the data outputs and shut it down. She calls them 'towers.' This miraculously liberated the scientists. We've agreed that the world is not yet ready for these kinds of advancements. Aelita was set up to be eliminated today, but Anthea held some kind of childish attachment to the thing. Knowing she wouldn't budge, we all agreed to send her to Lyoko, removing her memories as a sort of 'key' to the digital world while replacing them with these artificial ones of me teaching the thing how to play piano, being her father and so on. I'll be going to Lyoko tonight in case X.A.N.A. ever tries to rise up again. Anthea is shutting down the supercomputer in the morning and then leaving to got to Germany under a false name, as well as the other scientists."

The video flickered off before the whole screen went black. Age has finally caught up to the ancient monitor. Aelita masked her overwhelming urge to smash the computer. _My whole life is a lie...all of it...just a big experiment._

Jeremy tossed the dead laptop aside and put his hand on the stunned girl's shoulders. "Aelita...Look at me Aelita." He said sternly. The girl shifted her cold, hate-filled, gaze into his eyes. "I can't even comprehend how you must feel right now, but you _need _to get to Lyoko. Yumi and Ulrich will help you get to Carthage." The strawberry haired girl remained silent. "Please Aelita! Life as we know it is at stake! X.A.N.A. probably knows about the whole thing and what we just watched, and I bet you he's single handedly starting World War three right now! He's going to try and inluence you, don't listen to him! Just remember what's going to happen if you fail or side with him!"

The girl said in a barely audible whisper, "What's the point?"

"What's the point?" He asked, baffled. "Aelita, you're smarter than that! You'll be a hero! If that's not enough, then don't let X.A.N.A. win! A nuclear holocaust is probably safer than becoming mindless slaves."

Aelita shuddered at both of those horrible fates. "What about you?" She whispered.

Jeremy couldn't help but smile. "I'll stay here and guide you. Now get to the scanners!" Aelita grinned and pecked him on the cheek, making him blush.

They entered the elevator, stopping at the scanner room then in the main computer lab.

Aelita entered the scanners, still heavy-hearted over the blunt discovery of her horrible 'father.' But, she wouldn't allow the rest of humanity to suffer.

Jeremy sat at the computer, typing in the virtualization code. "Scanner: Aelita! Virtualization!"

Aelita materialized in the Ice Sector, still in her Lyoko outfit, right next to Ulrich and Yumi. "How nice of you to join us, Princess." The latex suited girl beamed and looked up in the sky. "Jeremy? Where do we go?"

No response. X.A.N.A. probably jammed communications. "Jeremy?" She repeated, worry leaking her voice.

Jeremy wasn't at the factory anymore. Not a single soul was around for miles. The only thing remaining was a massive crater full of smoking ruins, nuclear radiation poisoning the air.


	6. XANA's Secret

**'Think Tank' Technological Advancement Facility, Brazil **

**Population: 1**

This facility once held some of the brightest minds of the nineteen-nineties. That is, until, a once harmless A.I. program took over, making the scientists retreat. Now the facility was out of shape, the hallways blooming with mold and vegetation, the light fixtures barely hanging by a thread, and without windows, the interior was a sweltering haven for small insects.

The only source of light in this dilapidated facility was the warm glow of a massive computer monitor strung up on the wall a few inches above the ground, bearing a red target-like symbol and occasionally flickering with static as it struggled to stay activated. Underneath this monitor were a series of cables and wires linked from the back leading down into a split of three different sections.

One cluster of wires led to the right side of the room connecting to a dying prototype supercomputer that was reactivated just recently when it's counterpart across the sea was annihilated in a nuclear blast just moments ago. Several of it's lights were burnt out, others flickered with what little energy they had.

The second set of cables traveled along the filthy tiled floor, bobbing and weaving around tables and plugging into a rusted control panel that said in bright red letters, 'ONLY USE IN CASE OF DISCOVERY'

The final set was stapled along the wall, edging around a corner, hooked up to a lone scanner. The pod-like device was in pretty decent shape, thought a panel or two along the back fell off, revealing wires and conductors.

The only living being in this abandoned facility wasn't actually alive at all. This entity, of course, was X.A.N.A. This facility was his base. For fourteen years this was the only thing the program has 'lived.' The only other places he's seen was the hometown of his arch-enemies, the Lyoko Warriors. Those were only constructs, extensions of his intelligence due to the supercomputer and Aelita Schaffaer, his mental link, being in close proximity of it.

Because of her, he was able to access a secret missile silo miles away from Kadic Academy. The A.I. was pleased the humans were so easily fooled. How could they not even question how X.A.N.A. was able to access _every _nuclear missile in the world? This whole time, they've been answering to empty threats.

The A.I. calculated Odd Della Robbia was the most powerful warrior due to his superior statistics. He had to be eliminated, so X.A.N.A. pretended he had no control over the SWAT assassin.

He even knew from past experiences that Jeremy Belpois couldn't resist looking into the laptop, which he gladly allowed. Keeping the kids in the dark wasn't as beneficial as allowing them learn the truth. After Jeremy got the remaining tools to Lyoko, his outlived his usefulness and was disposed of.

But now, though he didn't want to admit it, X.A.N.A. is completely powerless. Without Aelita on Earth and no suitable platforms in the Amazon, the A.I. wasn't a real threat. He could activate a tower on Lyoko, which is what he preferably used to access other points on Earth, but that takes up far too much energy. Energy he couldn't waste.

There was one weapon X.A.N.A. had: Deceit.

The humans seemed oblivious to the influence they are under, and if X.A.N.A. keeps this up, Aelita would fall to his side and enter the code to increase the program's already incredible power.

He did not need to worry. The pieces are in place, now they just need to be pushed without anybody getting suspicious.


End file.
